“Carving a marionette is like making a sculpture,” she explained as she worked upon the leg of an indeterminate figure, “each piece has to be a sculpture in its own right and then it all adds up to a bigger sculpture.”

Lyndie Wright - As interviewed by The Gentle Author, Spitalfields Life

It was an honour and a privilege to train under master puppet maker, Lyndie Wright, as part of my QEST Scholarship in the traditional British Craft of Marionette Making.

Lyndie, as co-founder of Little Angel Theatre in 1961, is a pillar of the puppetry community in the UK and foundation of the art form today. As Marionette making is marked Red on the Endangered List of Crafts it is one I am incredibly passionate about reinstalling into the British Heritage Craft landscape.

Miho - (生萌) from the Japanese name meaning “Little Sprig or Fresh Growth” was designed around the idea of creating a puppet companion for myself. As I learn, grow and travel the world, I wished for a puppet I could grow with. That could change and develop as years go by, just as I myself would.

She is in part inspired by Basil Twist’s, “Stick Man,” Marionette, which has travelled with him for the best part of 25 years.

She is otherwise inspired by the artists of the Royal Ballet where I worked in the wings for 5 years as a graduate artist while I established myself in the puppetry community.

My first journey was to Japan, where I had the honour of meeting two companies of traditional heritage puppetry forms, Kuruma Ningyo ,Hachioji (八王子車人形西川古柳座) , and Awa Jurube Yashiki, Tokushima (徳島県立阿波十郎兵衛屋敷).